When the Green Bay Packers inked wide receiver Christian Watson to a one-year, $11 million extension in September, it wasn’t a huge surprise. What made it fascinating is that he may have left money on the table, given Watson’s skill set. However, from Green Bay’s perspective, giving an extension to someone coming off a torn ACL who hadn’t yet returned to action carried its own risks.
Fast forward to the stretch run of the season, and Watson keeps proving the Packers right.
It’s not just the 51-yard touchdown reception that put the Packers in front of the Detroit Lions, 24-14, in the second half on Thanksgiving. Everyone has witnessed his dazzling top-end speed. His biggest strength coming out of North Dakota State was his ability to take the lid off a defense.
However, it wasn’t clear whether Watson had all the other necessary traits to be a complete wide receiver. He was a good run blocker when tasked with doing so in college. He’s developed into a great one in the NFL.
Watson has developed his route tree, rid himself of the drops that plagued him in his first couple of seasons, and he’s still peeling back layers of his game, getting better and better.
Just as important as the touchdown was another reception late in the game. Facing a third-and-five from their own 40-yard line with 2:48 to go and up a touchdown, quarterback Jordan Love didn’t hesitate on his target to move the sticks. It was Watson who made quick work of Detroit cornerback Terrion Arnold on a simple out route to pick up the first down.
Someone who entered the league as a deep threat with a lot of raw talent and has dealt with injuries has molded into arguably Green Bay’s best wide receiver. In a two-year stretch, the Packers drafted Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, and Dontayvion Wicks. Doubs has been as solid as they come. But there’s no doubting that the biggest improvements out of the group have come from Watson.
Watson spoke with reporters after signing his extension in September and noted that getting it done — and thus avoiding playing on the final year of his deal after the ACL injury — alleviated some pressure.
The gist of the deal really was what it was: It’s to take a little bit of pressure off myself to feel like I have to do more than I should be doing to get back, and once I got back … being as smart with it, trying to go out there and just not do too much. So for me, it was really just to take that pressure off myself, so I can kind of just go out there when I get back and just play free. It’s definitely a blessing. It means a lot to me, and I’m glad we were able to get it done.
For the Packers, it’s already proving to be one hell of a bargain.
Watson hasn’t played fewer than 73% of the snaps on offense in any of the last four games. It’s by far the second-most on the team during that stretch and trailing only Doubs.
Despite playing in only six games this year while rehabbing his knee, Watson already has 21 receptions and three touchdowns. In 15 games last year, he had 29 receptions and two touchdowns. Watson is being used more this year, averaging 4.8 targets per game compared to 3.5 last year. He ran 16.3 routes per game in 2024, but that number has ballooned to 25.2 this season.
Watson is proving his worth, and he already knew it before signing the extension. As he said back in September:
I think that I know what I’m worth as a player when comparing it to the market and whatnot. But it’s a risk and reward when it comes down to it with the injuries that I’ve had in the past and obviously coming back from a major injury like this. So just weighing the risk and weighing the reward of going both ways with it.
The Packers aren’t and weren’t blind to it. Among the many times head coach Matt LaFleur has praised Watson this year came after the Sunday Night Football victory in Pittsburgh.
He brings an element to our offense and to our team, just the size, the speed, and I’ve talked about it many times, just his versatility… You saw his presence felt not only in the passing game with those explosion plays, but also as a blocker downfield. I mean, he had a heck of a block on Tucker’s, his first touchdown. There was some good stuff in the run game, so he’s just a really valuable piece for us.
Health is wealth, and that’s been Watson’s greatest struggle during his young NFL career. If he’s good to go for the rest of the year, once the Packers get Reed and Matthew Golden back, the sky is the limit with the offense.
